An Otago Community Trust grant of $7,400 will boost the Guardians of Lake Hāwea’s efforts to undertake riparian and biodiversity planting on the Lake Hāwea foreshore.

Guardians of Lake Hāwea member John Langley said after he joined the group four or five years ago he decided to kickstart a project to create more biodiversity on the foreshore.

“I was very aware that we were doing things that were positive for the area but they were sort of reactive, and… I thought it would be good to do something that was visible on the ground.”

The Guardians have now planted approximately 4,000 plants at Grandview Creek, John Creek and Urquhart Bay with the help of a group of dedicated volunteers.

“It’s mainly local volunteers and that’s good because it’s a small core of dedicated people,” John said. “The pool of people is about 30, we get ten or so each working beat.”

“Everyone who comes along is a local. You have a stake in the community you live in.”

Wai Wānaka has also contributed to planting at Urquhart Bay.

While biodiversity planting provides habitats for birds, skinks and the like, it has to be done hand-in-hand with trapping, John said, and a subset from Wānaka Backyard Trapping has traps installed. 

Supporting the project all along the way has been the Hāwea Community Association, which John said was pivotal to making the project possible.

“We’re very grateful to the HCA for their support,” John said.

The recent funding boost from the Otago Community Trust will support planting at a section of Rowley Bay, he said, adding that if anyone would like to provide additional support for the project they can email him at [email protected].

John said the medium term goal for the project was to extend the efforts of the planting further along the foreshore.

And long-term, John said, the vision would be to improve biodiversity right around the lake, although he noted it might not happen in his lifetime.

Learn more about what the Guardians of Lake Hāwea are doing here.

PHOTO: Wānaka App